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LIFE & TRAVEL
| 50 | ISSUE 584 JUNE 2016
BPA
and your
hormones
Although plastic is a helpfully versatile medium you can create
almost anything with, it’s not so helpful when it comes to our
hormones. Olwen Anderson explains what it can do and how
we can manage our exposure to this insidious substance.
T
ake a look around
you now, right
where you are,
and notice how
many items
contain plastic.
The keyboard I’m typing this on is
made of plastic, as is the standing desk
converter. The printer, the plant pots,
even the fan whirring in the corner.
Plastic, it seems, is everywhere.
Our modern environment is
considerably polluted; every day
our bodies come into contact with
manmade chemicals we’re just not
designed to process and get rid
of effectively. Our genes haven’t
evolved fast enough to handle them.
Since we developed a love of
plastic and its versatility over the past
century-and-a-half, our exposure has
multiplied exponentially. Plastic and
the pollution it creates is so prevalent
the best you can do is minimise
your exposure – you can’t avoid
it completely.
Manufacturers are now focused on
creating safer plastics in response to
consumer demand, but more research
keeps emerging about how this
manmade substance causes us harm.
Plastic isn’t inert after all
Bisphenol A (BPA) is a component of
plastics. It’s useful for manufacturers
because it makes plastics more
resilient and flexible, clearer and more
resistant to heat.
Since the first plastic items were
invented during the 19th century,
our society has fallen in love with
this versatile, light material. It’s now
used extensively in food and drink
packaging, medical devices, compact
discs, in drinking-water storage tanks
and in water pipes. It’s everywhere,
and modern life seems impossible
without plastic.
Although plastic is waterproof
and doesn’t appear to react with its
contents, the BPA within it leaches
easily into the contents of a food or
drink container. Even more easily if
the contents are acidic, have a high
fat content or are heated. BPA is easily
absorbed in your mouth, transferring
across mucous membranes into the
rich web of blood vessels that sit
under your tongue. From there the
molecules can travel through your
body, escaping detection, because
at first glance your body thinks it’s
looking at a hormone molecule.